


the compromise of truth

by AlexSeanchai



Series: nine lives, snake's eyes [7]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Misses Emilie Agreste, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cat Owner Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Context Clues, Gen, Minor Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Minor Adrien Agreste/Lila Rossi, Minor Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, POV Nino Lahiffe, Podfic Welcome, Protective Nino Lahiffe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:35:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27573184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexSeanchai/pseuds/AlexSeanchai
Summary: "She would have turned forty-two yesterday," Adrien murmurs, and huffs, as though something's amusing. "Father still does not know where his towel is, and I don't think he wants to.""It only sort of makes sense even with context," Marinette mumbles, which doesn't help Nino's confusion.Adrien snorts. "Got that right. Want to hear how I conned him into generously permitting me to adopt a cat?"
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Nino Lahiffe
Series: nine lives, snake's eyes [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1959910
Comments: 16
Kudos: 73





	the compromise of truth

**Author's Note:**

> The soundtrack is noirshitsuji's fault entirely. (It works beautifully, though.)
> 
> I still haven't figured out how to make stuff be in blockquotes if and only if the work skin is off, which means, if you are reading this in a downloaded version or with work skin off, the text conversation is not in blockquotes at this time. Sorry 🙁

**Thursday, 16 April**

_And the stakes remain too high,_ the Mumford & Sons vocalist sings, _for this silent mind,_ steady strengthening drumbeat behind the lyrics. Nino's pretty sure the song is supposed to be about a toxic romantic relationship, or possibly a gambling addiction—the Genius annotators certainly think so—but…it's been disturbingly quiet the past two months. _And the shake, the lonely itch that courses down my spine—_

Ladybug and Chat Noir have been out three or four times a week, either to deal with M. Pigeon or to patrol, where by 'patrol' they mean strategy meetings (fueled, because superheroes must keep their energy up, by ice cream from André Glacier) or sparring to practice with each other's weapons (" _Ladybug, the only person allowed to hit me with this is **you**! A little help, please? —Are you—stop **laughing**!_") or just running off their nerves on the rooftops. Hawkmoth may have fifteen Miraculouses and seven names, but none of those belong to Ladybug or Chat Noir.

 _It's in the eyes, I can tell, you will always be_ —

Adrien's ride is pulling up; Nino stops caring about the lyrics. "Dude!" he calls as soon as Adrien's door opens. He pauses the track, drops his headphones around his neck, and grins back at Adrien's wavering smile.

—Wait.

Nino rechecks his texts from Adrien, just to be sure:  
  
  
_Adrien:_ [my future cat daughter](https://alexseanchai.tumblr.com/post/630929289639002112) 😸  
  
_Adrien:_ Audio on!  
  
_Adrien:_ This is not a drill, I talked him into it  
  
_Nino:_ DUDE you're getting a kitten??  
  
_Adrien:_ Probably an adult cat but yes  
  
_Adrien:_ I'll explain tomorrow  
  
_Nino:_ sweet! 👍🏾  


Okay, no, Adrien's downcast expression and the way he's almost trudging over does not make sense unless something else happened? But something else probably happened, so Nino gets to keep an extra sharp eye out for pretty purple butterflies. The calendar happened, if nothing else, he thinks. Adrien thinks the class betting pool on who catches the butterflu next is excellent entertainment, if a bit too close to morbid, but this is not a bet Nino wants to win!

When Nino claps him on the shoulder, Adrien angles his phone for Nino to see: it's the list of cats currently available for adoption at one of the local animal rescues. "Already picking out your new best friend?" Nino jokes.

Adrien gives him a sour look. Before he can decide what to say, Marinette bolts over, breathing unfairly easily, and commanding as always Adrien's attention. "You okay?" she asks him.

He pockets his phone and shrugs, twisting and untwisting his fingers like he's playing cat's-cradle with his bare hands. "Trying not to let Nino win money off me."

"He funded my buy-in again," Nino explains in an undertone, since Marinette looks confused. (It isn't cheating. Exactly.)

Marinette consults her phone. "Oh." A moment of visible internal argument later, she asks, "Would you like a hug?"

Adrien wraps his arms around her; Nino hugs them both for all he's worth. "She would have turned forty-two yesterday," Adrien murmurs, and huffs, as though something's amusing. "Father still does not know where his towel is, and I don't think he wants to."

"—Huh?" Also, ew. If Nino must imagine one of the Agrestes naked, then teasing Adrien about showering during akuma attacks in hopes of showing Ladybug the goods is _much_ more fun.

"It only sort of makes sense even with context," Marinette mumbles.

Adrien snorts. "Got that right." He pulls back; reluctantly, Nino lets go. Adrien keeps one arm around Marinette's shoulders as they head up the Dupont front steps. "Want to hear how I conned him into generously permitting me to adopt a cat?" he asks, pitching his voice a little louder.

"Spill!" Nino urges.

"Last night he told me he wants me to take on a key role in strategic development of the family legacy," Adrien says, gesturing expansively with his free hand. Trying at expansively, anyway: he's wearing a long-sleeved button-down today, for whatever reason. (Probably to impress his admirers, since it's tight enough to show off his jock musculature, but even Nino can tell that's because it's too small.) "Less visibility," Adrien says, "more responsibility, less micromanagement."

Someday (Nino thinks, miming gagging), Adrien will decide he will be either a Gabriel Fashions employee or his father's son, and it will be Gabriel Agreste's choice which. Nino hopes it will be soon, but given which of those he knows Adrien is hoping for…

"Less visibility—so no more photoshoots?" Marinette asks.

Adrien grimaces. "Fewer photoshoots. I opened negotiations with 'no photoshoots', though," he adds, and this small smile is brighter and steadier. "You should have seen his face when I said I was setting terms. —Oh, that reminds me," he interrupts himself, jogging ahead. "Hey, Lila!" he calls once he's in the courtyard; she turns, and when he reaches her, he bends to kiss her hand in a stiff imitation of Chat Noir romancing Ladybug. "I don't know if Nathalie's told you yet: the photoshoot schedule's changing. You might have to work with other models. Tragic, I know," he adds with too much cheer in his voice for the apologetic set of his shoulders.

Lila's eyes narrow. "However will my career survive. You look extra handsome in green," she adds, with a hint of a smile.

"I was aiming for professional, but thank you. You might also get in on the big project with me," Adrien continues, ignoring Lila's sarcasm and flirtatiousness and Marinette's unreadable expression. "I told Father he was talking about giving me enough more work for at least two people, and miracle of miracles, he actually listened to me. I expect you're the top of his list. Sorry, Marinette," he adds.

Marinette shrugs. "It's fine," she mumbles, eyes on the floor.

"Anyway," Adrien says, starting toward the stairs and glancing back to be sure Nino, Marinette, and Lila are following, "guess the reason Maman always gave me for why I wasn't allowed a pet cat."

"Cats are selfish and sometimes vicious?" asks Lila.

Adrien gives his girlfriend a dirty look. "No, that's the reason _Father_ always gave. You can be banned from my bedroom once I bring my cat home, just like he and Nathalie are. Gorilla is not banned because Gorilla likes cat videos," he adds to Nino and Marinette.

"So, not responsible enough?" Nino asks. It's not like Adrien made it difficult to guess.

"Close," Adrien says, grinning. He takes the stairs at a run and leans over the railing while the slow people catch up. "It would not be fair to my future cat, Maman said, if I adopt her before I prove I am worthy of her trust in me."

"Shouldn't 'trustworthy and responsible enough to scoop a litter box every day and keep a water bowl full' be lower stakes and lower pressure than this?" Marinette wonders.

"It should. It is." Adrien holds open the classroom door. "Which is why, when Father said he was trusting me with _this_ responsibility, I told him Maman would say I was responsible enough to get a cat."

Nino exchanges glances with Marinette. Alya, already at her desk, boggles. "You actually stood up to your father?"

"—Ah." Adrien looks caught out, for some reason, then relaxes. "Yeah, you could say that."

"A round of applause!" Nino proclaims, clapping counterclockwise.

Adrien's smile flits over his face and away. "I'm half surprised he didn't kill me," he mutters, dropping into his seat.

"I'm…sure you'll do fine!" Marinette says, encouragingly.

Adrien mutters something else.

Lila says nothing, going for her own seat, and Nino watches how Adrien's shoulders loosen the moment Lila is back out of arm's reach. Nino leans over to Alya's ear and murmurs, "I bet they break up within a month."

"Thank Lamanté, _finally_. I love them both, but this is painful." Alya watches Adrien, who's relaxing further as he shows Marinette the various cats listed on the rescue's site. "Why did he say that's what he's afraid of?"

"I don't know, what _does_ the fox say?" Nino was a Turtle, remember? He never got the sharper hearing. He's kind of surprised Alya still has it, when she hasn't seen Trixx in two months and knows she won't again.

Alya snorts. "That the grapes are probably sour anyway?"

One of the other Aesop fables is about a shipwreck, a devout passenger, and a sailor. _Pray to Athena, but move your arms!_ Adrien is going to work himself half to death to please his father in this, isn't he? Especially if—and why would the man pull this out of his candy-striped ass _yesterday_ if he wasn't trying to make this about her—especially if Adrien thinks this would also please his mother. Adrien's going to swim or drown, and he won't even think of asking anyone but his father to help him not drown.

"Yeah," says Nino. "Probably."

**Author's Note:**

> The black kitten most prominent in the linked video is very tiny and clinging very fiercely to the whisk also held by the person filming. Tasty batter, apparently. (There are three other cats in the video, but they are all on the floor.)  
> 
> 
> [My comment policy](https://alexseanchai.tumblr.com/post/612627045048008704/as-a-fic-writer-i-need-every-reader-to-know): tl;dr happy comments make me happy. So do thinky comments, of course, but there exist jerks who think only thinky comments are worth anyone leaving.
> 
> Find me on [Dreamwidth](https://alexseanchai.dreamwidth.org/) and [Tumblr](https://alexseanchai.tumblr.com/).


End file.
